Court denies appeal by death row inmate in 1988 killings

PHOENIX — A federal appeals court has turned down an appeal by an Arizona death row inmate convicted in the killings of a Pima County woman and her 17-year-old daughter nearly three decades ago.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling Tuesday says the trial court and the Arizona Supreme Court used a permissible method for considering and excluding mitigating evidence that might have warranted sentencing leniency for Richard Harley Greenway.

Greenway was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and other crimes in the 1988 shooting deaths of Lili Champagne and daughter Mindy Peters, and the theft of a Porsche.

A sheriff’s deputy discovered the victims’ bodies after going to Champagne’s home to report that the 1983 Porsche 944 was found burned and abandoned.

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